Big brands challenged to a 'social showdown'

05 Dec 2011

Readers will vote on how well top US brands are using social media during the Christmas period.

The run-up to the Christmas holidays is big for advertisers on both sides of the Atlantic and so it is an ideal opportunity for the New York-based ClickZ News team to explore how marketers are using social media – and engage readers at the same time. ClickZ senior editor Kate Kaye and staff writer Chris Heine came up with the idea for a contest, pitting big brands against one another with the goal of crowning a king of the holiday season social media campaigns.

They created the ClickZ Holiday Social Showdown. "The coolest part of this is the interactivity allowing our readers to vote in each round each week - and hopefully spurring some expert debate in our comments section on the site", Kaye said. "For that, we're using our polling functionality, thanks to the always-amazing web designer Rebecca Holz".

"ClickZ, like all publications today, must innovate and test out new approaches to engage and inform readers", ClickZ executive editor Anna Maria Virzi said. "This feature, headed up by Kate Kaye, achieves both goals".

Each week in December, winners are being selected from an initial roster of 16 brands including eBay, Coca-Cola, Absolut, and PlayStation. The ClickZ News team will choose winners and losers based on input from readers, campaign innovation, social engagement data from SocialBakers and expert insight from Ken Kraemer, executive creative director at social media marketing agency Deep Focus.

The first round of voting in the ClickZ Holiday Social Showdown started on December 1 here: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2129130/clickz-holiday-social-showdown-vote-picks

“Kudos to Kate for creating a Holiday Social Showdown, an interactive feature designed to get readers involved in voting on the most interesting social holiday campaigns. Rebecca's work on this project was invaluable, too, ensuring that the poll works smoothly. Now it's time to get the word out", said Anna Maria.

For further information
Anna Maria Virzi
+1 646 755 7280
Email Anna

About ClickZ
New York-based ClickZ is the largest resource of interactive marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion, research, and reference in the world, online or off. From search to social, technology to trends, its coverage is expert, exclusive, and in-depth.

About Incisive Media
Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialist business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal and accounting services, marketing services, technology and risk management. Incisive Media's market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Search Engine Strategies, Computeractive, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk and V3.co.uk. It has offices in London, New York, Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore.